A technique for analysing integral rate data in non‐ideal flow reactors to estimate unknown parameters

Abstract

AbstractA technique is described for analysing integral rate data taken from a non‐ideal flow chemical reactor characterised by the axial dispersion model, using a weighted residual approach.This approach avoids the formidable computational difficulties involved with the solution of the boundary value problem associated with the model differential equations. The measured concentration profile is approximated by a series of orthogonal polynomials. Model parameters are estimated by specifying that the fitting polynomial satisfy certain moment relations derived from the mass balance equation and boundary conditions.If the form of the rate equation is known, a priori, the estimation of the rate constant and the dispersion coefficient becomes explicit. In the more general case, in which the reaction order is also unknown, the estimation problem reduces to a uni‐dimensional search for the reaction order parameter (or the adsorption parameter in the case of complex kinetics). The method is applied to both linear and non‐linear systems and conclusions are drawn regarding the sensitivity of the chemical kinetic and transport parameters to experimental error.